|
| Day 316 - August 13, 2006 |
IT's OFFICIAL!!!! I reached the "End of the Iditarro Trail" arch in downtown Nome this afternoon at 5:45. After 4,000 miles of walking 900 miles of cycling and 2,200 miles of river canoeing I've reached the Bering Sea on the West Coast of North America....aka ALASKA. Two former Skagwegians, Mitch and Vickie Erickson with two of their children(Chris and Lacy)along with Thom Ely of Haines were there to help make it official. Mitch walked the last mile with Thom and me. Thom has been walking with me the last 44 miles.
Now there's just a short 112 mile walk back to Skagway from Whitehorse in the Yukon and I can call it good. When Thom and I got over to Mitch's house we found to our immense delight 5 live King Crabs waiting to die just for us. Mitch is very good at making sure said crabs didn't escape and ended up in our tummies. Owooooooooooooooooooooooooh! Needless to say it was a fine feast. Thom bought a bottle of Champagne, we had a toast, a howl and sat down to feast. An excellent repast for sure.
By six on Monday I'll be back in Fairbanks. Plan on staying there until Wednesday and then will hitch over to WHSE and start the trip back home. Owooooooooooooooooooooooooh! Man o Man, it feels good. Mitch Vickie and Thom all say HEY to everyone they know and don't know for that matter. For the first time in a week the sun came out and its still out as I type this at 9:40PM.
Walking in to Nome we saw reindeer, sand cranes, geese, ducks, trumpeter swans. We keep hearing about belugas and muskox but I think Thom and I are the only ones not to see them. My plane doesn't leave until 3 PM manana so maybe on Monday I'll make a sighting or two.
So, I'm down to the final days. It's been an emotional roller coaster. I'm happy to know I'll have a little over a month to get back in the swing of things. I really need that income to start rolling in again. This isn't my final missive ...but there won't be many more. Love to all the supporters I've had along the way, just recently and especially to those who've been on the band wagon with me from the start. I feel so good I could hug everyone I know, whether they like me or not. Take care guys. I'll check back in once I get going again. Owooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!
|
|
